Sephora VIB Sale, Ulta & Birthday Haul

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This post is coming quite a few months late, but for very good reason. My birthday was back in December, and Sephora usually does their VIB sale sometime around late November or so. I decided to treat myself to some beauty bits while my daughter was still in the hospital. 

After Olivia came along, I was mainly into skincare and getting my skin in good shape. I hadn't worn makeup in ages, and still haven't worn any since she was born. I still have boatloads of makeup that I slowly want to get back into doing, but skincare is my main focus. During the VIB Rouge sale (which I am no longer part of Rouge), I had picked up 3 of the Sephora Favorites sets: Soko to Tokyo, Scouted by Sephora, and Beauty Sleep. All of these sets came with brands that I had been dying to try, and now that Olivia is finally home, I can really focus on getting my good skin back. 

After the VIB Rouge sale, I got one of those $25 off of $50 giftcards sometime in December, so I ended up buying a few things for my birthday. I got the Too Cool For School Egg Cream Mask set that comes with 6 sheet masks. Ever since I learned how to properly use a sheet mask, they've become so much more fun to use. I also got the Tony Moly Coconut Face Mask Sheet in the 2-pack. 

To get to the $50, I purchased two lip balms from Smith's: one in Minted Rose, and the other in Rose & Mandarin. I've used these balms before in other scents, and love how they smell and feel on my lips. They're nice and thick, and perfect to use before bed to really soak in and hydrate dry, cracked lips. 

Since it was my birthday, I chose to get the Fresh Soy Face Cleanser as my birthday gift. I really like how there are options to choose from now, versus just a one product for all people. I also had 500 points to burn, so I chose the Glamglow face mask and cleanser set. I love the masks in the white and blue jars, but not so much the black one. I have yet to try their cleansers, but will probably save it for the warmer months when my skin gets more oily. 

I need more eyeshadow palettes like I need a hole in the head, but everyone and their dog was raving about the Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance Palette. Since Ulta gives you double points during your birthday month, and it was a time where I had a 20% off coupon, I treated myself. The colors are super pretty, but more warm toned than I'm used to. I honestly still have yet to try it with all the stuff going on with Olivia. 

Since I was on a skincare kick, I got some individual sheet masks from Tony Moly: Refreshing, Skin Purifying, Moisturizing, Pore Care, Skin Soothing, and Clear Skin. These sheet masks are so inexpensive and I always hear great things about them. I can't wait to dig in and try them!

I hope you all didn't mind my ultra late haul from my birthday and the VIB sale! Since these purchases, I haven't bought a single thing and have put myself on a spending ban for the entire year. Maybe once December rolls around again, I'll treat myself for my birthday, but other than that, I truly don't need a thing beauty related. Is there anything you've bought recently that you're liking?  

What I Got For Christmas/ My Birthday HAUL!

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Hey guys! I hope everyone who celebrates had an awesome Christmas, and has a very happy New Year! December is always an odd month for me because my birthday is on the 8th, so presents that are given to me nowadays are for both that and Christmas, which I'm honestly fine with! Since I'm now 27 (hooray for being in my late 20's now...not!), I never really ask for certain presents anymore. I prefer either gift cards or cash so I can get something I know I'll enjoy and use. I also do treat myself to some things because, why the heck not?! So today I'll be sharing with you what I ended up getting with my birthday/Christmas money!

I had gone to Walgreen's hoping to find new products that I've been hearing about, but had zero luck. They did however have a major clearance sale going on, so I took some time browsing. I picked up the Wet n Wild Fergie Take on the Day Mattifying Powder that was on clearance for just a couple dollars. I'm hoping this is decent, but with it being marked down, it's probably getting discontinued. 

I also picked up one of the Megalast Liquid Lip Colors in the shade Red My Mind. It's a beautiful shade in the package, but that's it. It's an awful formula and flakes off my lips almost immediately after applying it. Luckily, this was just over $1 on clearance, and now I understand why every shade in this line was marked down. 

I've never tried the popular Wet n Wild lipsticks that everyone talks about, so I picked up the shades Smokin' Hot Pink and Cherry Picking. I always thought these were $1.99, but at my Walgreen's they were $2.49. No big deal really, so if I end up liking these, I'll probably buy more!

Burt's Bees wasn't on sale at all, but if you bought 2 of their lip balms, you got 1,000 points so I got the scents Honey and Coconut & Pear. I love lip balms, and Burt's Bees makes some great ones. 

Next up is Sephora! I had gotten the VIB Rouge giftcard in the mail for $25 off of a $50 purchase, and my mom also gave me hers to use as well, so I placed 2 separate orders, but lumped everything together. On one of the orders I had to buy hair ties because I wasn't quite at $50, but somehow I lost them already.

Anyway, I ended up getting the Philosophy Holiday Handbook hand cream set, which has the scents Cranberry Medley, Fresh Cream and Raspberries & Cream. I purchased a set of these last year as well and love them, so when I saw they had another set this year, I knew I had to have it. Fresh Cream is such a light, but amazing scent and I'm very happy to have it in hand cream form!

I have no reason to be buying more eyeshadow palettes, but the Too Faced Chocolate Bon Bons is one I just had to have! I had been hearing about it for months, thought the packaging was adorable, and the fact that it smells like chocolate always seals the deal. I have the other two chocolate bar palettes as well and color selection wise, I think I like this one the most. 

Kat Von D has been killing it with her makeup line within the past year, and everything I've tried so far, I've loved. I bought yet another Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in the shade Bauhau5 and a Metal Crush Eyeshadow in the shade Raw Power. You all know my love for her liquid lipsticks, but I've been dying to try out the Metal Crush Eyeshadows. I was torn between this and the shade Thunderstruck, but went with Raw Power because I love my burgundy's!

The birthday gift this year came from Nars and it included a Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in the shade Cruella, a Satin Lip Pencil in the shade Rikugien, and since I'm VIB Rouge, it came with an extra little sample of their Larger Than Life Eyeliner in the shade Via Veneto. I hear that both of the lip pencils and the eyeliner are great, so I'm excited to try them out!

Last but not least, I made a trip to Ulta. My lovely mother-in-law gave me a giftcard, and my dad gave me some birthday money. I also had the coupon for 20% off, which was good on everything I purchased! I had seen a review on YouTube of the Stila Trust in Love Gift Set, which includes an eyeshadow palette, a deluxe sized lip glaze, and a deluxe sized sample of their HUGE Extreme Lash Mascara. The wand on the mascara reminds me so much of the Too Faced Better Than Sex, which is probably my favorite higher end mascara, so we'll see if the Stila one compares. 

Real Techniques was on sale, so I picked up two of their Shading Brushes. I don't have these yet in my Real Techniques brush collection, but I love the size of these and think they will be good for applying shadow to my hooded lids. 

I've decided I wanted to delve into the world of lip liners, so I went a little ham with what I bought. I ended up buying three Essence lip liners in the shades 15 Honey Berry, 07 Cute Pink and 08 Red Blush. These babies were only $1.49 and with the coupon I had, it made them super inexpensive. I always hear good things about these lip liners too, so I have high hopes. I also purchased two other lip liners, one from NYX in the shade Cabaret, and one from Rimmel in the shade Rapture. The Rimmel lip liner was marked down to clearance, which may mean it's being discontinued. 

Next up is a new Revlon eyeshadow palette called Not Just Nudes, and the one I purchased is Romantic Nudes. They had another one that seemed a bit more warm toned, so the purple-y mauve-y pink shades in this stood out to me more. I love how drugstore brands are coming out with eyeshadow palettes, so I hope this is decent quality. 

The last product was the birthday gift from bareMinerals, and it's a Marvelous Moxie Lipgloss in the shade Birthday Babe. I don't think I've tried these glosses before, but I love the color of this, and it isn't very sticky either. 

That's everything from my birthday and what I got for Christmas! Did you get any makeup/beauty goodies that you're enjoying?

Cyber Monday/Birthday Haul!

Hey everyone! I finally got all my orders in that I had placed during Cyber Monday, and I also did some birthday shopping on Tuesday. My actual birthday was Monday the 8th, but my husband and I were both off Tuesday, so he took me to the Willow Grove Mall where there is a Cheesecake Factory for lunch. Of course I had to take a trip to the Sephora there. I do have a little rant though, so bare with me! I have to say, while lunch was amazing, shopping wasn't all the fun. The employees at Sephora were so damn rude and unhelpful and I felt pretty uncomfortable. Also, I went to Victoria's Secret to use up the secret rewards card I had and I don't know what was going on, but they only had one person ringing while probably close to ten people working on the selling floor. Now I'm no expert, but I do work retail. When you have a long ass line of people waiting to be rung up and only one person ringing, don't you think someone would come help the poor girl get through the line?! Honestly, it was unbelievable and I feel for the girl doing it by herself! It's not always easy! Anyways, thanks for reading my rant and here is everything I got! It's a long one, so get cozy.

I really wanted to place an order on Milani's website because they were having a 50% off sale on everything. I've been dying to try some of the Bella Eyes Gel Powder Eyeshadow, so I bought 8. The colors I got are Bella Cappuccino, Bella Taupe, Bella Ivory, Bella Bronze, Bella Champagne, Bella Caffe, Bella Purple and Bella Chiffon. If you want reviews of these, let me know! I didn't do swatches for this post since it's a long one. 

To get free shipping you have to spend $25, so I decided to try out their Eyeshadow Primer. I think EmilyNoel on YouTube likes this stuff, and I always trust her opinion. I also wanted to try out their Baked Blush in the shade Delizioso Pink. Shades like this always looks nice on my fair skin, and their blushes are great to begin with. 

Bath & Body Works had decent sales going, but I primarily only wanted to get the handsoap my mother-in-law loves, which is the Cucumber Melon, and you can't get it in-store anymore but I did find them online. They're not pictured because I already have them put away to give to her for Christmas. Their 3-wick candles were also on sale, so I picked up 4. 
-Apple Spiced Toddy, which pretty much smells like Leaves
-Stress Relief, which is eucalyptus mint
-Homemade Cookies
-Cinnamon Caramel Swirl, probably my favorite of the bunch

I didn't really think Ulta's online deals were that special, but they were having free shipping with only a $25 purchase. I decided to buy the Real Techniques Nic's Picks 2014 Brush set. This set comes with a Duo-Fiber Face Brush, Cheek Brush, Angled Shadow Brush, Base Shadow Brush and an Eyeliner Brush. I'm already a huge fan of Real Techniques, so I'm sure I'll love this set. 

Lorac had a little eyeshadow palette for only $15 and it's their Champagne Dreams Palette. The colors look beautiful in the palette, but I have yet to try it. 

I placed a rather large BH Cosmetics order, but two items aren't shown because they're gifts for a friend. Of course I have to treat myself as well, so I picked up the 10 piece Sculpt and Blend Brush Set. To me, these look like Sigma brushes, and I honestly like BH brushes, so I'm curious to see if these are nice or not. 

Me being the palette freak, I bought two. The Dark Rose Eyeshadow, Blush & Liquid Eyeliner Palette was only $10, so I figured I'd give it a try. I also picked up the Wild Child Baked Eyeshadow Palette. I love baked eyeshadows, so I'm gonna guess these are pretty good. It only cost $7.50 so if I don't like it, it's not a big deal. 

The last product from BH is their Studio Pro Matte Finish Pressed Powder and I got shade 205, which for me is the perfect color. I'm excited to try this as I only paid $4.50 for it!

I heard about the Stila Cyber Monday sale on a blog and thought I'd go over and take a look. Apparently the products on their sale page were between 50%-70% off, and I was shocked to see two palettes on there. The In the Garden and In the Light palettes were only $20 each. I also picked up their Brighten & Correct Concealer in the shade called Tone. I'm assuming these products are being discontinued  or already have been because I don't see them on the site anymore.

Last up is Sephora. These are a combination of Cyber Monday and birthday shopping and the first thing I truly wanted to get my hands on is the new Kat Von D palette called Innerstellar, and it's flipping gorgeous! I definitely want to do a review on this bad boy. I say that with everything and never do it, but this one deserves a review with how pretty it is.

Then we have the Sephora Collection 2-in-1 Eye Makeup Remover Gel. This was only $5 and I only got it to get up to $50 so I could use my $20 off a $50 purchase coupon. Hopefully it's alright. 

I picked up the Boscia Detoxifying Black Cleanser because it just seemed intriging. This is what I picked up in-store where I felt super uncomfortable. I would've shopped more, but I had to get out of there. I can safely say I'll be doing most of my shopping online from now on!

The Sephora Collection VIP Pass Eyeshadow Palette was just too adorable to pass up! It was only $10 and you get 8 neutral shadows that are perfect for travel or everyday use. 

A co-worker of mine raves about how much she loves the Eyeko Black Magic Mascara, but I saw a little duo set of it along with a tinted Brow Gel for only $15. I'm always on the hunt for a good mascara, so we shall see if it's as great as I'm told!

The birthday gift this year is from Makeup Forever that comes with a mascara, lipstick and eyeliner. I haven't even opened this yet, but honestly, I haven't tried much from Makeup Forever. Hopefully I like what's inside the box!

Lastly, I cashed in 500 points for the Clinique Eyes To Go set they have. It comes with a makeup remover which I already know I love, All About Eyes eye cream which I also already love, High Impact Mascara is also a love, Lash Building Primer that I have not tried yet and a Quickliner For Eyes Intense. I was excited for this because most items I know I already love, so it never hurts to have backups in mini form!

Phew! That's everything! I definitely did some damage this month and I also placed another order from The Body Shop a couple days ago that I'm waiting for as well, and also Ulta. I think my resolution is a no buy for a while!

Is there anything you've hauled recently?

Birthday/Christmas Money Haul! Sephora & Ulta

Hey guys! So today's post is going to be a haul! I know I said I was on a spending ban, but with my birthday and Christmas being in the same month, I had saved the money I was given to buy some makeup goodies! Lets see what I got.

Starting off with Sephora, they were having an online sale of their clearance items after Christmas of 20% off so I decided to purchase two items! The first is this Urban Decay Anarchy Face Case.

This is a pretty neat palette. When you open up the top portion, you get 5 different eyeshadows that are called Redemption, Fray, Vaporize, Provocateur, and Revolt. I love these colors like every other UD eyeshadow but my two favorites are Fray (second one in) and Vaporize (third one in). For my skintone, Fray is perfect for the crease and blending out any harsh edges. Vaporize is just such a stunning metallic gray-ish taupe color that I actually get alot of use out of. You also get a decent size of their 24/7 liner in Perversion, which is personally my favorite black eyeliner.

When you open up the second layer, you have two blushes called Fetish and Quickie. *Cough* Anyways, aside from their raunchy names, they're beautiful colors. Fetish is a mauve-pink and Quickie is obviously a bright pink. The highlighter, called Craze, isn't my favorite. I'm not the biggest fan of yellow-toned anything, so I'm not sure if I'll get much use out of it. 

I'm obsessed with the Super-Saturated High Gloss Lip Color in Scandal! I put this on and was amazed at how pigmented and beautiful it was. It's described as a bright metallic raspberry shimmer, and that's just spot on. I love how this looks with my fair skin, and with a very neutral eye, it's perfect! I'm thinking of doing a review on this sometime.

The last product I picked up from Sephora is the Lorac Mint Edition Palette. It also came with an exclusive Couture Shine Liquid Lipstick in the color Retro which is a nude-pink shade that's supposed to flatter all skintones. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks a bit light for me, but smells amazing, like cocoa powder!

Inside, you get 8 eyeshadows, 4 matte and 4 shimmer, along with a blush and highlighter. The highlighter in this palette is more my style because it's more of a pinky tone. The blush is a peachy-pink and I love blushes that color. 

I won't go into too much detail since I think I want to review this, but the matte eyeshadows didn't really impress me. I bought this for the mint shade, but that wasn't up to par with Lorac's other matte shadows, aka the Pro Palette. The shimmer shades are actually very nice! The taupe shade in the upper right hand corner is a beautiful lid or transition color depending on the look you're doing!

Now onto Ulta! I've been wanting to add to my Real Techniques brush collection because they're great quality but they're pretty affordable. When I was in the store, they were sold out of literally every Real Techniques brush except for two or three, so it was slim pickins. I did want to get the Setting Brush so I was glad they had it! I wanted this primarily for setting my under eye concealer. 

I then picked up the much talked about Mario Badescu Drying Lotion. My skin has been crazy lately. It's super oily and broken out one day, then the next day it dries out and I can't control that either. With all my breakouts, my usual zit gel I was using wasn't working as well, so I decided it was time to try this bad boy since I've heard amazing things. Again, I want to do a review on this, but I will say, this product is really nice!

I then picked up the newer Revlon Colorburst Lacquer Balms. They did have a few of the matte balms, but they were all tampered with. My biggest gripe with these is that they're only sealed with a tiny little sticker. I think that's just nasty, but I did find two that I wanted to try (and didn't seem tampered with!). The first one is called Enticing, which is a beautiful red shade. I put this on right away after I bought it, and I actually got compliments! This is a rare red that somehow works for my pale skin. The second color I bought is called Coquette which is a bright pink shade. I know it looks bad in the picture, so I apologize!

Last few products! I decided it was time for me to buy some Prestige mascara. I picked up the popular My Blackest Lashes, but then I also wanted to try My Biggest Lashes. I have yet to open these but I'm pretty darn excited I own these now!

The last products I picked up are these Rimmel Scandaleyes Eye Shadow Paints in the colors Chestnut Taupe, Manganese Purple, and Rich Russet. I'm pretty sure these are new products because they were on a different display away from the other Rimmel products. These babies are flipping awesome! You gotta work fast with these because they dry quickly, but I put some on my lids with the applicator, then take a stiffer blending brush to buff away harsh lines. These literally dry down like paint, but they make an awesome shadow base! I haven't worn these by themselves yet, but I have a feeling they'll last throughout the day.

That's everything! I hope you enjoyed reading this post, and let me know if you've hauled any new products lately! :)

The One Thing On My Birthday Wishlist!

Birthday Wishlist
with tarte cosmetics